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Why Josh Bell’s Big Weekend Won’t Change the Pirates’ Plans to Send Him Down

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PITTSBURGH – Josh Bell has made about as big of an impact as a rookie can make in just three pinch hit appearances. On Friday, he came up to the plate and delivered a single to move Adam Frazier from first to third. On Saturday, he delivered with a big pinch hit grand slam. And today he walked, then came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Andrew McCutchen, barely beating out the throw from Jason Heyward.

Despite the early success, the Pirates aren’t changing their course on Bell. They planned to have him up as an extra bat off the bench, and that didn’t change today, even after the grand slam.

“He came here to be a bat off the bench,” Pirates Manager Clint Hurdle said. “Let’s be quite frank about this. We love what happens now. … We have a plan in place. If something happens today, there could be an option where he gets in this game. But I don’t see moving him to first base in front of Jaso right now with the job he’s done. Really, he hasn’t played the outfield in over two years, so would that be fair to put a young man and throw him out in the outfield on a day game? That’s not to me. Not if one of your mottos and one of your staples is to put guys in a position to have success. We’ll look for an opportunity where we think he’ll best fit to help us win another game today.”

The Pirates didn’t win, although Bell helped them keep it close. Prior to the game, Pirates’ General Manager Neal Huntington talked about the success Bell was having this weekend, and his reaction to the results.

“He’s made it look easy in the batter’s box the two opportunities he’s had and it’s been fun to see the offensive progression in Josh,” Huntington said. “He’s always been able to barrel the baseball. We’ve talked a lot about ‘When is the power coming?’ I think he’s showed that the raw power is there, it’s just a matter of how it plays in a game consistently and he’s doing that more frequently this year. We want him to be a good hitter. We want him to be able to focus on being a good a hitter and when he gets the ball out front like he did last night, he’s going to hit it a long way. If he tries to hit it a long way, he’s going roll it over a lot. That’s what most hitters go through.”

There isn’t really a timetable for Bell to come up full-time, but it doesn’t sound like the Pirates are in a rush to make Bell their starting first baseman.

“Down the line, we’ll see what he’ll look like,” Hurdle said. “I don’t know when down the line is. I’m just not in the hurry that everyone else is. Because of experience. Because of the lens that I need to have. … We love the kid. He’s going to find his mark and have his opportunity. There’s no doubt about that. I don’t think we’re in the same rush that everyone else is.”

Blocked at First Base

One of the things impacting the Pirates’ decision is the performance of John Jaso and David Freese. Jaso struggled in the month of June, bringing down his overall numbers. However, he has been picking up his production recently, showing what he showed in the first two months of the season.

I’ve said all year that the Pirates should bring up Bell and ease him into the first base job, getting a few starts a week, and working as a bat off the bench, until he shows he’s ready. But it doesn’t seem the Pirates want Bell working off the bench, and feel he’d be better off playing everyday until he’s ready.

“I made a statement either in the offseason or early in the season about this being a bridge year,” Huntington said. “It was taken to mean that I didn’t think we would be competitive. I actually meant the exact opposite. It was, we’ve bridged from the group that was here prior to [my time], to then it was McCutchen and Martin to Cervelli and ideally Cervelli is going to bridge to someone else in a handful of years from now. It was more that we had some young players that we were really excited about, there were still some more on the way and how do we bridge that gap between them being ready to help us win games in a playoff environment at the major-league level and that’s where David Freese and Matt Joyce have come in and done a tremendous job for us.”

That’s another factor with the possibility of Bell working off the bench. David Freese and Matt Joyce have been fantastic off the bench this year. So has Sean Rodriguez. And Adam Frazier adds speed and versatility, and also has been a spark at times off the bench.

“These guys have stepped in and done just a fantastic job, a handful of them have,” Huntington said. “We don’t look at them as blocking, we look at them as allowing us to give those guys ample opportunity to grow and develop so that when the transition happens, it’s smoother, because they’re just that much more equipped to handle the changes and the constant adjustments that happen at the major-league level.”

There’s really no spot for Bell as a bench player, and no spot for him on the roster right now unless the Pirates deal John Jaso and bring up Bell as the first baseman. And there’s no way they’d talk about Jaso like he’s not their starter if there was a plan to trade him and bring up Bell for good. It’s also very possible that they just see Jaso as the better option right now.

The Defensive Work

Clint Hurdle was asked today what Bell needs to work on, and gave a short answer.

“It’s more experience in the box with soft stuff — secondary pitches — in offensive counts,” Hurdle said. “Then there’s a lot more defensive work to be done.”

The defense is definitely the key factor here. It’s easy to look at Jaso’s recent struggles and Bell’s success in his first three plate appearances and say that Bell is the better option. But Bell is behind Jaso defensively. He’s not Pedro Alvarez bad, but he’s a below-average defender, and would be a downgrade over Jaso. Giving Bell more time in Triple-A is mostly about that defense.

“Defensively, he’s still a work in progress,” Huntington said. “He’s making progress at first base. John Jaso has reminded us that it can be done and it can be made to look easy. I don’t think most of us had John being a very comfortable first baseman at this point in time. He’s made it look easy but he’s worked so hard at it.”

Bell is to the point where he could be called up if Jaso gets hurt, or if the Pirates decide that the overall package is better than Jaso, even with the defense being worse. But right now, Huntington is talking like Bell is a good depth option, rather than a guy forcing Jaso out.

“It’s a good thing to have more players than roster spots,” Huntington said. “We look forward to continuing to keep Josh growing and developing. It’s hard to keep a young player, that still has work, remaining on the bench at the major-league level and not getting consistent opportunities and that might not be the best things for [Bell]. We recognize the small-sample results monster is rearing its head right now, but we’re excited about what he can become. Now our goal is, how do we put him in the best position to be the guy that we believe he can be? The crystal ball: We don’t know when that happens. We’ve still got some work to do.”

Gregory Polanco’s Impact on the Situation

One thing that is heavily factoring their decision right now from the offensive sample size is what happened with Gregory Polanco. The Pirates brought him up as an injury replacement in 2014, before they originally planned on bringing him up. He exploded for an 11-game hitting streak, with an .863 OPS and one homer. From that point forward, he struggled, hitting for a .602 OPS the rest of the year. He didn’t really start to get comfortable in the majors until last July, and didn’t break out until this year.

“I think there was a point in time where we were hoping to keep him there longer,” Hurdle said, thinking back to Polanco’s promotion. “That was our goal. The circumstances involved, we made the move with I think it was a Walker injury at the time. After some other complications, we were running short, so we brought him up at that time. Neal was very vocal throughout the process of wanting him to have a little bit more time. We made the move because there was a need.”

I talked with Huntington earlier in the year about the timing of bringing up prospects, and one of the things he brought up was the track record of immediate success with guys they’ve brought up who had extended time in Triple-A. Guys like Andrew McCutchen and Neil Walker, who had plenty of at-bats in Triple-A, had immediate success. Guys like Polanco and Pedro Alvarez, who had limited time in Triple-A, struggled right away. Huntington repeated the same thought process today.

“We wish the identification of when a player is ready for the big-leagues was much more science than art. But it’s much more art than science,” Huntington said. “We work hard to put our guys in a position to be — in our minds — ready. We never know that. You bring a guy when you feel that he’s just on the front edge of that readiness curve and Gerrit Cole never looks back. In some cases, you do it with Gregory Polanco — or Starling Marte or Pedro Alvarez — and you look a year later and you kick yourself for not being more patient. You see what Andrew and Neil did and how many more at-bats they had at the upper levels and you can’t help but feel that’s why they transitioned more easily. You look at the Cardinals and their young players seem to transition really smoothly and then you go back and look at the at-bats they’ve typically had at Triple-A, there’s a common denominator there. Josh has made it look easy the last two nights and I’m really excited about what he can become, but there’s still some work to be done.”

One of the factors that drives the call for Bell outside of the team is emotion. Fans (and some prospect writers who have been covering the player for years) see the upside, and can’t wait to see that player in the majors. They dream about the player making a seamless jump and instantly reaching his upside. Seeing the player have a few good results early in his career doesn’t help that feeling to go away. But does Huntington also get the same feeling?

“It’s impossible to strip all emotion out of it,” Huntington said. “You look at what Bell has done in Triple-A and it should translate, but does it always? There are some things that are outside of Josh’s control as there was with Jameson, as there is with Tyler and there may be with some of our other young players that indicate whether the opportunity does get extended. To have that guy sitting there ready to come in, it is nice. It’s also incredibly encouraging to see how comfortable he was in the batter’s box. It allows you to feel that this guy is pretty close offensively. How does he fit defensively and how does he fit long-term? It gives you tremendous comfort to know that he’s making quality progress.”

The Pirates could keep Bell up for a big longer, as they don’t need that roster spot for a pitcher until a few games into the break. Gerrit Cole will return from the DL right after the break, but Chad Kuhl is likely to be the odd man out. Bell would go down when Jameson Taillon returns, and the Pirates could wait until Saturday or Sunday for that move, or Monday or Tuesday if they want to prolong Taillon’s break. After that, expect him to go back down, with Jaso being the starter. If Jaso continues hitting like he did in June, then it would be a much easier decision to bring up Bell. But I don’t think the Pirates would give up on him based off one month of struggles. The only alternative is to trade him, but they’re not going to talk about him like he’s anything but a starting option until that point comes, if it comes at all.

Tim Williams
Tim Williams
Tim is the owner, producer, editor, and lead writer of PiratesProspects.com. He has been running Pirates Prospects since 2009, becoming the first new media reporter and outlet covering the Pirates at the MLB level in 2011 and 2012. His work can also be found in Baseball America, where he has been a contributor since 2014 and the Pirates' correspondent since 2019.

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